Player || gxb

Chapter four: FRIENDS

"How do we fall in love. Harder than a bullet could hit ya? How do we fall apart. Faster than a hair pin trigger"
~River by Bishop Briggs

What I thought.
"Rayna lives in that area. Of course she could be walking around," I said to Autumn.
Autumn rolled her eyes, "but at five am. Seriously, why would anyone be up at that time. And in case you don't remember, that is when Alexia was killed."
I did a face palm, "What if Rayna heard something? Like a gunsh—" I got interrupted by the library doors being smashed open.
I looked and saw Bronwyn, she looked at us and said, "come on. My father needs you." We followed her. Bronwyn is the sheriffs daughter. So, of course she is the one to come and get us.
The last thing I saw before leaving the gym is Autumn glaring at us.

We walked all the way to the sheriffs office.
There, we met up with Bronwyn's father, the sheriff, and Rayna.
"Finally," Mr. Ashford said, "we need to talk about something. Sit down."
Mr. Ashford led us to a circle of chairs in his office. We all sat down, and he offered us some coffee.
"Before we do the autopsy on Miss Rodriguez, I need to ask you guys some questions," the sheriff said. "Is this all of her friends?"
"No," Bronwyn said. "We're missing a few."
"Who?"
"Maya Brenner, Ruth Prince, Leah Evans, Emily Hart, and I think that's it."
"And we have...?" Mr. Ashford asked.
"I'm Ruby Valdes. You know me," I added, "this is Nina Yardley," I pointed at Nina. "I think you know Angelina Hampton," I said, he nodded. "And this is Holly Garnet."
Mr. Ashford looked at his daughter when I said "Garnet".
"Would anyone mind calling the people who aren't here?" Mr. Ashford asked.
"Sure," I said, "I'll call 'em." I pulled out my phone and walked outside. I called Maya first.
"Hey," I said when she picked up. "We need—"
"One sec," Maya interrupted. I heard her say something to someone that I couldn't pick up. "Yes?"
"We need you at the sheriffs office. Everyone must be here apparently. It's about Alexia," I added.
"Oh," is all Maya said. "I'll be there soon," she hung up on me after that. Hm, that was weird.
I then call the others, they all say they all say they'll be there soon.

Soon after, everyone arrived. And Mr. Ashford tells them to sit down.
The sheriff clasps his hands together, "now, I have a couple questions that I need answered. Tell me, where where you were on September fourth at five am. Starting with you," he pointed at me.
I thought I already explained this I thought. "I was with Magnus Garnet in the woods behind his house."
"Doing what exactly?" Mr. Ashford asked, and pulled out a notepad.
I swallowed, "we were talking about school. A new girl moved in next to Magnus and we were talking about it."
"Why? Does she affect something between you?" He asked.
I started to feel self-conscious, "she asked if Magnus would walk her to school. And usually we walk together."
"Is there something going on between you and Magnus?"
"No!" I said. He looked up and me and everyone was staring. I swallowed, "I mean, no. We are just friends."
"Uh-huh, okay. Let's move on. Miss Brenner?" Mr. Ashford continued.
Maya looked down at the floor, "I was in my house."
Mr. Ashford jotted down a note. "Are you sure about that?"
Maya looked at him, "I'm positive. I was in my house. I wasn't sleeping, I was just lying in bed."
"Did you hear a gunshot?"
"No."
"Okay, next. Miss Prince?"
"Sleeping. I don't get up early," Ruth said and kept full eye-contact.
"Okay," the sheriff jotted down another note.
We continued the questions. Apparently everyone except for Maya, Leah, and Angelina were asleep then, and they were only lying in bed. We only had to ask Rayna now.
"Miss McCabe?"
Rayna coughed, "I was taking a walk then."
The sheriff raised his eyebrows, "around where exactly?"
"My area," Rayna said.
Mr. Ashford raises his eyebrows even higher. "And what area is that?"
"Willowdale street."
"So you lived near Miss Rodriguez?"
"Yes," Rayna answered.
"Hm. Okay. Now, I must get to the autopsy. If anything happens, I'll tell you," Mr. Ashford got up from his seat. "You may go."

I walked home with Bronwyn. Her father needed to work late so she is staying over at my house for the night.
"How do you feel about this situation?" I asked her randomly.
She looked at me, and said, "I don't know what to feel. I mean, I'm sad that Alexia is gone. I just don't know how to feel about everyone around me. Anyone could be the killer."
I sighed, "I don't like how people are choosing just random people and blaming them. Me, for example."
"That accusation is gone though. Right?"
"No, they still need to check if it was the gun that was in my closet's bullet. They still need to check if it was a bullet that killed her," I explained.
"True," Bronwyn said. And we were quiet for the rest of the walk.

The next day, I woke to my alarm.
Six-thirty am I read. I noticed that Bronwyn didn't wake up to the alarm, so I poked her until she woke up.
"What time is it?" She asked.
"Six-thirty."
"Is Magnus walking with us?"
"Yes," I answered.
I looked out my window, and I saw Magnus walk out of his house and wait.
I hurried up and got ready. We were just about to walk outside when Bronwyn asked, "who's that?"
I looked out the window she was looking through, and I saw a redheaded girl run up to Magnus and say something.
"Julia," I growled.
"Julia? The one that hangs out with Autumn?" Bronwyn asked me.
"Yes," I walked outside and took Bronwyn with me. We walked right up to them.
"Hello, Magnus. Hello," I added to Julia. "Now, we must get going," I said to Magnus.
"Oh, wait," Magnus said and grabbed my arm. "I said that maybe Julia can come with us?" He looked at me with a question in his eyes.
I glared at him, "fine. But only for today."
Magnus looked happy.

We walked all the way to school. When we arrived, I said that I should go to the others like usual. Magnus just shrugged, "okay." The he walked off with Julia.
I stood there in anger.
"Are you okay?" Bronwyn asked me. "You're clenching your fists."
I looked down at my hands, I saw that I cut into my skin. I opened up my hand and saw I drew blood.
"I'm fine," I said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," I said.

Later that day, we were in science class. And we were to get partners.
"Want to partner up?" I asked Magnus.
"Sorry, I'm partnering with Julia," he apologized, then he walked over to her. I glared at her, and she smiled at me.
I ended up partnering with a girl named Dora Rose.
"Hello," she greeted and sat down beside me.
"Hello," I said back. "You're one of Holly's friends, right? I think I heard your name somewhere."
"Yes, we've known each other for a while now," she answered, and she grabbed a test tube. We were doing water treatment, just like in grade eight.
"Cool," I said.
We started working, and just when I was about to filter the water, Dora said, "I'm sorry about Alexia Rodriguez."
I started pouring the water through the filter, "it's okay. I hope she didn't die painfully."
"You know, a lot of people are blaming you. I'd watch out," Dora warned.
"I know, a lot of people have been telling me."
"And people are blaming the Garnet twins. I feel bad for Holly," Dora sighed.
"What about Magnus?" I said, a slight bit defensive.
"Yes, and him. But I also feel bad for Rayna McCabe."
"Why?" I asked.
"Didn't you hear? She's also a suspect," Dora asked.
"No, no I didn't. All I heard was that she was taking a walk at that time," I said.
Dora put the filtered water in a clean cup. "Looks like we are done. See you next class," she got up and went to the teacher. And that's the last I saw of her for a while.

"I know you like Magnus," Holly said. "It's kind of obvious."
We sat on a bench outside during break. Everyone else was studying, we decided to take a break. We studied after finishing early in science.
"I know I do. But I don't understand why he likes Julia," I growled.
"Maybe it's because of the red hair. A lot of people like redheads," Holly sighed.
"You like redheads."
"Exactly."
I heard the school door open, and I saw Julia stomp out of the school. I watched her as she walked all the way across the front yard and start walking towards the Starbucks.
"That was weird," Holly said.
"That was great," I said.
Soon after, I saw Magnus come out of the school and start running across. "Julia! Wait! I can explain!" He yelled.
I felt my heart drop.
"Oh no," Holly sighed.
I watched as he ran after her.
"Well, that settles it," I said.

I started walking home. Without Magnus. But soon after he started to follow me.
"Ruby?" He asked, "did I do something?"
I ignored him and kept walking.
"Bro? Did I do something? Speak to me!"
I turned around and faced him. "Wow, you really are a dumbass aren't you? Can't you notice even the biggest hint someone gives you?" I turned back around and kept walking.
"Wait," he said and started speed walking to keep up with me. "What hint was that for?"
I laughed, an evil laugh I rarely heard come from me. I knew I was overreacting, but I felt it was necessary.
"Keep guessing!"
"Just tell me!!"
This was going on for pretty much the whole walk home. When I got to my doorstep, Magnus tried to block me from going in my house.
"Bro, tell me what I did," Magnus said calmly.
I tried to push past him. "No, you'll figure out soon enough."
"Is it because of Julia?" He asked.
I pushed him away from the door and opened it.
"If it is, I can stop walking with her," Magnus said.
"It isn't because of the walking! Wow, you are really bad at telling when someone likes you, or something!" I snapped.
I shut to door right at the moment that I heard Magnus say: "I thought we were just friends."
And those words changed everything.